BILL NUMBER: SB 249	CHAPTERED  09/23/99

	CHAPTER   472
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 23, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   SEPTEMBER 23, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 31, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   JULY 1, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JUNE 23, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MAY 18, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   APRIL 27, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   APRIL 7, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Johannessen

                        JANUARY 27, 1999

   An act relating to veterans, and declaring the urgency thereof, to
take effect immediately.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 249, Johannessen.  Veterans:  farm and home purchases:  life or
disability insurance.
   Under existing law, the Veterans' Farm and Home Purchase Act of
1974, if the Department of Veterans Affairs enters into a master
agreement with one or more insurance companies to provide life or
disability insurance coverage for the purchasers of farms and homes
from the department, the agreement is required to provide that the
life insurance will be offered to purchasers who are disabled solely
as a result of their qualifying military service and to nondisabled
purchasers on an equal basis.  Existing law also specifies that no
purchaser shall be denied coverage solely because that purchaser has
a qualifying military service-connected disability at the time of the
application.  Existing law also requires the life or disability
insurance to be a form of group life or group disability insurance.
   This bill would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to
conduct a study of the life and disability insurance coverage that is
being provided for the purchasers of farms and homes under the act
to determine what other life and disability insurance is available
that would provide equal or better coverage and a more equitable or
lower cost to the purchasers.  The bill would require that copies of
the study, which study would be required to be conducted using
existing resources of the department, be submitted to the Senate
Committee on Veterans Affairs and the Assembly Committee on Veterans
Affairs on or before January 1, 2000.
   The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an
urgency statute.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  (a) Notwithstanding Section 7550.5 of the Government
Code, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall conduct a study of the
life and disability insurance coverage that is being provided for the
purchasers of farms and homes under the Veterans' Farm and Home
Purchase Act of 1974 (Article 3.1 (commencing with Section 987.50),
Chapter 6, Division 4, Military and Veterans Code).
   (b) The study shall include, but not be limited to, a
determination as to what other life and disability insurance is
available that would provide equal or better coverage and a more
equitable or lower cost to the purchasers for the purposes described
in subdivision (a).  The study shall be conducted using existing
resources of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
   (c) Copies of the study shall be submitted to the Senate Committee
on Veterans Affairs and the Assembly Committee on Veterans Affairs
on or before January 1, 2000.
  SEC. 2.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect.  The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to modify existing law for the effective administration
of the Veterans' Farm and Home Purchase Act of 1974 at the earliest
possible time, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.
